In
December 2017 the AZTARNA label launched the new ALBOKA
album at the 52nd Durango Book and Record Fair. This veteran
folk group, led by Alan Griffin and Joxan Goikoetxea, update
their catalogue with Lurra, ur, haize, their fifth
release in almost 25 years.

The new CD, offering a generous 17 tracks, is in the trademark
Alboka style. As connoisseurs might expect, many are lesser-known
traditional songs and dances, but there is also material
in a newer style and character, in original and sometimes
surprising arrangements.

Coming 13 years after their last album Lau anaiak, Lurra,
ur, haize differs from earlier Alboka releases in its
greater emphasis on present-day issues, for which well-known
specialist lyricists like Xabi Paya, Amets Arazallus and
Harkaitz Cano have been invited to participate. The very
fine instrumentalists Fiachra Mac Gabhann and Peter Maund,
who have taken part in almost all Alboka albums, are again
present here, and the CD includes a popular single, 'Mundua
ala gu', performed by an unusual combination of
singers: Alex Sardui (Gatibu), Petti, Eñaut Elorrieta
(Ken Zazpi), Mikel Urdangarin and Amets Arzallus.

The veteran group ALBOKA, one of the best-known
and most representative in Basque traditional music, specialise
in presenting old music, both sung and instrumental, in
a new guise, as well as composing new material in a convincingly
traditional style.

They
have twice
been nominated for the Music Prizes awarded by the SGAE-AIE,
the Academy of the Art and Science of Music, and one of
their albums has been chosen as one of the best European
records of the year by the German magazine FolkWorld.

ALBOKA
came into being in 1994 when three established Basque musicians,
Txomin Artola, Josean Martin Zarko (Ganbara, Xarnege) and
Joxan Goikoetxea, and Irishman Alan Griffin decided to set
up a group to play instrumental Basque music. The acoustic
instruments - guitars, mandolin, bouzouki, ttunttun, accordion,
alboka, bagpipes, flutes and crumhorns - and a carefully
chosen selection of dances and airs taken from the living
tradition and from the great Basque music collectors, culminated
in the group's eponymous first album Alboka, which marked
a departure in a Basque folk music scene more accustomed
to vocal recordings. In 1997 they were joined by fiddler
Juan Arriola, and began to widen their repertoire to include
songs and also newly composed tunes in the traditional style.
These developments are reflected in their second CD, BI
BESO LUR, which also features prestigious
guest musicians (Arantza Irazusta, Xabi San Sebastian, Peter
Maund, Ixiar Oreja, Juan Mari Beltran, Urbil Artola, Luis
Camino and Olatz Zugasti), and confirms their distinct acoustic
style in the treatment of instrumental Basque music.

In
2001 ALBOKA augmented their core members
for their third CDLORIUS, produced
by Suso Saíz, an album bristling
with new ideas, full of delights and surprises, with its
carefully chosen combination of traditional material and
original compositions. This CD boasts contributions from
a number of star performers, not least of whom is Hungarian
singer Márta Sebestyén, singing
in Basque on five of the nineteen tracks which make up the
album, and who also performed with ALBOKA in their dynamic
live act. Márta's fame has spread even further through
her performance on the Oscar-winning soundtrack of The English
Patient and on Costa-Gavras's The Music Box. In addition
to singers Xabi San Sebastian and Eliseo Parra,
there were contributions from Fiachra Mac Gabhann,
Juanjo Otxandorena, Peter Maund, Juan Mari Beltran, Iñigo
Monreal, Garbiñe Sagastibeltza, Christophe Juste,
Tino di Geraldo, Julio Andrade and David Escudero.

Their most recent release
until the present album wasLAU ANAIAK,
which came out in 2004. It was a nominee for the Music Prizes
awarded by the Spanish SGAE-AIE, the Academy of the Art
and Science of Music and was chosen as one of the best European
records of the year by the German magazine FolkWorld.
Amongst the guests on this album were the usual back-up
musicians Fiachra Mac Gabhann and Peter Maund,
joined this time by Israeli percussionist Zohar
Fresco and Basque singer Benito Lertxundi
(´Hariztarren balada').